The present disclosure generally relates to powered handpieces for driving surgical instruments or tools. More particularly, it relates to powered rotary-type surgical handpieces and corresponding control systems for interfacing with and controlling operation thereof.
Powered surgical handpieces are commonly used in many medical specialties to drive surgical tools. For example, powered surgical handpieces are used to drive surgical drills, blades or cutting instruments in performing various diverse cutting-type functions including drilling, tapping, resection, dissection, debridement, shaving, pulverizing, and shaping of anatomical tissue. In the areas of ENT/head/neck and spine surgery, the handpieces are typically configured for selective coupling to, and driving of, a variety of different rotary-type surgical instruments that are each designed to perform a specific procedure. During use, based upon the specific surgical procedure, the surgeon selects the appropriate surgical tool and mounts it to the powered handpiece. The powered handpiece is then operated to move one or more components of the tool (e.g., rotation, oscillation) required to perform the surgical procedure. Additional procedural steps can later be performed by mounting a differently-styled tool to the same powered handpiece. As a point of reference, the rotational speeds typically required by a powered surgical handpiece for spinal or other hard bone surgical procedures is in the range of about 10-250 rpm. ENT/head/neck procedures range from about 500 rpm for a laryngeal skimming operations to in excess of 60,000 rpm for high-speed drill operations.
In addition to motor improvements, such as use of brushless DC motors, overall systems have been developed for use with the powered rotary-type surgical handpiece and related surgical tools. A typical system, in addition to a powered handpiece and one or more rotary-type surgical tools or instruments, includes a control console and a cable that connects the handpiece to the console. The control console is configured to activate and/or control energization of the motor otherwise associated with the powered surgical handpiece. For example, a hand or foot switch can be provided as part of the system. Depending upon the surgeon's manipulation of the foot or hand switch, a corresponding signal is delivered to the control console that, in turn, energizes the handpiece to a corresponding speed.
The improved capabilities of powered surgical handpieces, as well as the vast number of surgical tools now available, have undoubtedly greatly increased the number of spine and ENT/head/neck procedures that a surgeon can perform utilizing a single surgical system. With these improvements, however, surgeons now desire even greater performance, operational capabilities, and safety with a single powered handpiece. For example, surgeons desire the ability to rotate a selected surgical tool under low speed/high torque conditions, using only surgeon's finger to control the rotational speed and direction. Nerve integrity monitoring via the same powered handpiece otherwise operating the surgical instrument, safety over-rides, constant operational feedback, etc., are also features of keen interest to many surgeons. While conventional engineering is likely capable of adding one of these features to an existing powered handpiece and/or corresponding control console, known powered handpiece configurations cannot accommodate all desired features. As a point of reference, the powered surgical handpiece must not only provide necessary control over operation of the surgical instrument, but must be ergonomically sized and shaped to be comfortably held and manipulated by the surgeon for an extended length of time.
In light of the above, a need exists for a rotary-type powered surgical handpiece providing enhanced performance capabilities in an ergonomically-sized housing, as well as control console-enabled feedback and control.